Helen Benedict (www.helenbenedict.com) is the prize-winning author of eight novels and six books of nonfiction. Her newest novel is The Good Deed, to be published by Red Hen Press in April 2024. Her related and latest nonfiction is Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece, written with Syrian writer, Eyad Awwadawnan, published by Footnote Press in 2022.
Early Praise for The Good Deed:
“Written with immense sensitivity and depth of knowledge and understanding, The Good Deed is an essential read of our times. Captivating, revealing, and insightful, the novel is vividly and beautifully written, taking us to the heart of these women’s experiences, their external and internal journeys, showing us the reality of what it means to be a refugee, the devastation, loss and trauma, but also the strength and resilience. This is a must read! It should be on everybody’s bookshelf. It brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart.” -- Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
“In The Good Deed, Helen Benedict offers a stark, powerful portrait of women on opposite sides of a refugee camp in Greece: the refugees trapped inside, and the troubled American tourist whose good intentions morph into a dangerous delusion. The result is a poignant, layered novel on displacement and belonging, love and betrayal, and the jagged space between altruism and egoism.” —Dalia Sofer, author of The Septembers of Shiraz and Man of My Time
Praise for Map of Hope and Sorrow:
‘This gut-wrenching collection forcefully documents a humanitarian crisis through the stories of five refugees in asylum purgatory in Greece. — The New York Times
‘This book celebrates human resilience and the capacity for hope, serving as a powerful call for tolerance.’ – Lucy Popescu, Observer
"Gut-wrenching and necessary, this book sharply depicts an escalating humanitarian crisis that shows few signs of slowing down...An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril."—Kirkus Reviews, Sept. 15, 2022
‘Simple, powerful stories told in refugees’ own voices. I couldn’t stop reading, hand to mouth, my chest tightening.’ – Dina Nayari, author of The Ungrateful Refugee
‘Harrowing, heartbreaking and deeply humane, Map of Hope and Sorrow amplifies the dreams and struggles of refugees who fled oppression only to find themselves trapped in another kind of cage. Their voices echoed in my brain long after the final page.’ – Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland
‘Heartfelt, eye-opening, timely, essential.’ – Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
‘A treasure-trove of story, of heart, of humanity’s failures and achievements.’ – Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Latehomecomer
‘Map of Hope and Sorrow is not only urgent, it is riveting.’ – Jessica Goudeau, author of After the Last Border
‘At once compelling, poetic and necessary.’ – Masha Hamilton, former US Embassy envoy to Afghanistan and author of What Changes Everything
For events and book tour, see www.helenbenedict.com
Earlier Works
Benedict's previous novel, Wolf Season, published by Bellevue Literary Press in October 2017, follows the lives of three women and their young children living in upstate New York. After a hurricane devastates their town, Rin, an Iraq War veteran, tries to protect her blind daughter and the three wolves under her care. Naema, a widowed doctor who fled Iraq with her wounded son, faces life-threatening injuries. Beth, who is raising a troubled son, waits out her marine husband’s deployment in Afghanistan, equally afraid of him coming home and of him never returning at all. As they struggle to maintain their humanity and find hope, their war-torn lives collide in a way that will affect their entire community.
Praise for Wolf Season:
“No one writes with more authority or cool-eyed compassion about the experience of women in war both on and off the battlefield than Helen Benedict. In Wolf Season, she shows us the complicated ways in which the lives of those who serve and those who don’t intertwine and how—regardless of whether you are a soldier, the family of a soldier, or a refugee—the war follows you and your children for generations. Wolf Season is more than a novel for our times; it should be required reading.”
— Elissa Schappell, author of "Use Me" and "Blueprints for Building Better Girls"
“Fierce and vivid and full of hope, this story of trauma and resilience, of love and family, of mutual aid and solidarity in the aftermath of a brutal war is nothing short of magic. Helen Benedict is the voice of an American conscience that has all too often been silenced. To read these pages is to be transported to a world beyond hype and propaganda to see the human cost of war up close. This is not a novel that allows you to walk away unchanged.”
— Cara Hoffman, author of "Be Safe I Love You" and "Running"
“A novel of love, loss, and survival, Wolf Season delves into the complexities and murk of the after-war with blazing clarity. You will come to treasure these characters for their strengths and foibles alike. Helen Benedict has delivered yet again, and contemporary war literature is much the better for it.”
— Matt Gallagher, author of "Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War" and "Youngblood"
Benedict's novel Sand Queen is about a female soldier and an Iraqi civilian in the war. The book came out in paperback in August, 2012 from Soho Press.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Robert Olen Butler said about the book, "Every war eventually yields works of art which transcend politics and history and illuminate our shared humanity. Helen Benedict's brilliant new novel has done just that with this century's American war in Iraq. Sand Queen is an important book by one our finest literary artists."
Sand Queen is based on Benedict's research for her most recent nonfiction book, "The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq" (Beacon Press, 2009 and 2010). She won three major awards for that book and her articles on soldiers: The 2010 Exceptional Merit in Media Award from the National Women's Political Caucus, The Ken Book Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness for 2010, and the 2008 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism.
Benedict's writings on women in the military have inspired an ongoing lawsuit against the Pentagon on behalf of women and men who were sexually assaulted while serving in the military, and also inspired the award-winning documentary, The Invisible War. Benedict has also testified twice to Congress on behalf of women in the military. She is a professor of journalism at Columbia University.
Further praise for Sand Queen:
"Helen Benedict's compelling story provides an intimate picture of what it means to be a soldier, what it's like to live on the battlefield, and what the ethical choices are that our troops have had to make in Iraq. At times funny, at times grimly painful, Sand Queen offers a new chapter in contemporary American history." -- Roxana Robinson, author of Cost
"Anyone who claims to value the lives of our soldiers should read this powerful, harrowing, and revelatory novel." -- Valerie Martin, author of The Confessions of Edward Day and Trespass
Benedict's earlier novels are The Edge of Eden, The Opposite of Love, The Sailor's Wife, Bad Angel, and A World Like This. The Los Angeles Times and New York and Chicago Public Libraries have named her novels best books of the year, and she has received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Freedom Forum.
Her nonfiction includes Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes, Portraits in Print and Recovery: How to Survive Sexual Assault.
Helen Benedict's other articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, Glamour, The Women's Review of Books, and in many other magazines. She has been published in many countries and is included in several anthologies. www.helenbenedict.com.
Photographer Copywright Credit Name: Emma B. O'Connor, 2010.
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